Creative Prompt #138: Sunrise

Sunrise on the Hills  by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [More Titles by Longfellow]

I stood upon the hills, when heaven’s wide arch
Was glorious with the sun’s returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales.
The clouds were far beneath me; bathed in light,
They gathered mid-way round the wooded height,
And, in their fading glory, shone
Like hosts in battle overthrown.
As many a pinnacle, with shifting glance.
Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance,
And rocking on the cliff was left
The dark pine blasted, bare, and cleft.
The veil of cloud was lifted, and below
Glowed the rich valley, and the river’s flow
Was darkened by the forest’s shade,
Or glistened in the white cascade;
Where upward, in the mellow blush of day,
The noisy bittern wheeled his spiral way.

I heard the distant waters dash,
I saw the current whirl and flash,
And richly, by the blue lake’s silver beach,
The woods were bending with a silent reach.
Then o’er the vale, with gentle swell,
The music of the village bell
Came sweetly to the echo-giving hills;
And the wild horn, whose voice the woodland fills,
Was ringing to the merry shout,
That faint and far the glen sent out,
Where, answering to the sudden shot, thin smoke,
Through thick-leaved branches, from the dingle broke.

If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

Sunrise, Florida

Tequila Sunrise

Sunrise Township, Minnesota

Sunrise by Norah Jones

 

Definition: Sunrise is the instant at which the upper edge of the Sun appears above the horizon in the east. Sunrise should not be confused with dawn, which is the (variously defined) point at which the sky begins to lighten, some time before the sun itself appears, ending twilight. Because atmospheric refraction causes the sun to be seen while it is still below the horizon, both sunrise and sunset are, from one point of view, optical illusions. The sun also exhibits an optical illusion at sunrise similar to the moon illusion.

The apparent westward revolution of Sun around the earth after rising out of the horizon is due to Earth’s eastward rotation, a counter-clockwise revolution when viewed from above the North Pole. This illusion is so convincing that most cultures had mythologies and religions built around the geocentric model. This same effect can be seen with near-polar satellites as well.

Sunrise and sunset are calculated from the leading and trailing edges of the Sun, and not the center; this slightly increases the duration of “day” relative to “night“. The sunrise equation, however, is based on the center of the sun.

The timing of sunrise varies throughout the year and is also affected by the viewer’s longitude and latitude, altitude, and time zone. Small daily changes and noticeable semi-annual changes in the timing of sunrises are driven by the axial tilt of Earth, daily rotation of the earth, the planet’s movement in its annual elliptical orbit around the Sun, and the earth and moon’s paired revolutions around each other. In the springtime, the days get longer and sunrises occur earlier every day until the day of the earliest sunrise, which occurs before the summer solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, the earliest sunrise does not fall on the summer solstice around June 21, but occurs earlier in June. The precise date of the earliest sunrise depends on the viewer’s latitude (connected with the slower Earth’s movement around the aphelion around July 4). Likewise, the latest sunrise does not occur on the winter solstice, but rather about two weeks later, again depending on the viewer’s latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, the latest sunrise occurs in early January (influence from the Earth’s faster movement near the perihelion, which occurs around January 3). Likewise, the same phenomena exist in the Southern Hemisphere except with the respective dates reversed, with the latest sunrises occurring some time after June 21 in winter and earliest sunrises occurring some time before December 21 in summer, again depending on one’s southern latitude. For one or two weeks surrounding both solstices, both sunrise and sunset get slightly later or earlier each day. Even on the equator, sunrise and sunset shift several minutes back and forth through the year, along with solar noon. These effects are plotted by an analemma.[1][2]

Due to Earth’s axial tilt, whenever and wherever sunrise occurs, it is always in the northeast quadrant from the March equinox to the September equinox and in the southeast quadrant from the September equinox to the March equinox. Sunrises occur due east on the March and September equinoxes for all viewers on Earth.

Post the direct URL (link) where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. I would really like to keep all the artwork together and provide a way for others to see your work and/or your blog, and how your work relates to the other responses.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, has a Flickr group, which you can join to post your responses. Are you already a member? I created that spot so those of you without blogs and websites would have a place to post your responses. Please join and look at all of the great artwork that people have posted.

Author: Jaye

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

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